Advance the Kingdom!

I’m a Crosseyed Jesus Freak. That’s the title of my website, and I always sign off on anything written here as Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak. There is good reason for this. Briefly, let me tell you why, before I jump into my thoughts for today (if you want to read the full post of where Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak came from, you can do that here). I’m crosseyed. No, not in a physical sense. It’s just that I simply try to live my life with my eyes fixed on Jesus and what He did for all of us on the cross (Heb. 12:2). When I can keep that perspective, everything else seems to just fall into place. Life isn’t easy, by any means, but there is purpose and something bigger than me. Jesus Freak is simply a reference to, in my opinion, the greatest Christian rock song of all time…Jesus Freak by dc Talk (read the lyrics here).

That’s the filter I try to live my life through. But I don’t always live up to it. I mess up. I sin. We all do. That doesn’t excuse it, but that’s just the reality of our imperfect human nature. That’s why we needed Jesus to pay our price for us on the cross in the first place.

In having a relationship with Him, however, we are called to strive for a perfect life. We are to be sharing our faith with others. We are to be passionate about Him and His mission, which is found in Matthew 28:18-20. Basically Jesus tells us we are to take His message into all the world, making disciples by baptizing AND teaching as many as we can.

That’s what I want my life to be all about. Every aspect should fit into that. But again, it doesn’t. At least not always. I’m selfish at times. I want what I want, and forget there is a purpose bigger than me. And there is a purpose bigger than you as well. We all need that reminder from time to time. Life happens, problems arise, and we can lose our focus. Or, sometimes even worse, everything seems to be going great, so we go into cruise control. We can handle everything in our lives at that moment on our own strength and we get complacent. I know I’m not the only one.

During some downtime recently, I was thinking about all of this. It had to have been a God moment, because suddenly it all just clicked. If I want to filter everything in my life through the lens of a Crosseyed Jesus Freak, then there are things I need to get rid of. Easier said than done. I get that. But if I truly want my whole life to be about focusing on Jesus and sharing Him with others, then I need to make the effort to get rid of the things in my life that are not God-honoring. If you’re reading this, then I hope you want the same thing for your life. You want your life to come down to the idea you are honoring Him with everything you do.

We all have things that trip us up and cause us to lose focus. But we NEED to be onMISSION. How do we do that? How do we stay focused? That was the thought that really clicked during my downtime I mentioned earlier. That is the God moment of this post, and in my life. Here’s the point. We need to ask ourselves daily this question…

What am I doing today to actively advance The Kingdom?

God doesn’t need us to accomplish His will. He could easily do all of it on His own. But for some reason, He has chosen to advance His Kingdom on earth through imperfect, weak, human beings. That’s the beautiful thing though, because that means all of us. All He needs is our willingness to allow Him to work through us.

Paul gives us a glimpse of this in his second letter to the Corinthian church. He’s describing what we know as “the thorn in his flesh”. While we don’t know exactly what this was, we know that Paul desperately pleaded for it to be taken away. But he relays God’s answer in II Corinthians 12:8-10.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s power is made complete through our weakness. How? Think about the disciples of Jesus. Uneducated, low-society fishermen that went on to change the world as we know it. It wasn’t through their own power either. It was actually through their weaknesses, because their weaknesses made them focus on God’s power and rely 100% on Him. That is why God chooses to advance His Kingdom through us. When we work for Him, acknowledging we do not have all the answers ourselves, and others see we are producing above what we should be able to, then God is proclaimed. That should be our goal. Everything we try to do in our lives should honor God and proclaim Him. This is what I’m trying to do in my own life. And it is that challenge I leave for you today.

What am I doing today to actively advance The Kingdom? What are YOU doing today to actively advance The Kingdom?

Share this:

Like this:

Published by crosseyedjesusfreak

Kraig Birchfield is a Christ follower, husband to Kelley, Tennessee Volunteer football fan, and a Crosseyed Jesus Freak. He is passionate about his faith, writing, reading, sports, and his calling; Preaching the Word of God! Canton, OK is where he and his wife Kelley make their home, and he is the minister at Canton Christian Church (cantoncc.com) since September of 2017. He loves God, loves his family, and wants nothing more than to inspire you in your walk with Jesus. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior yet, he would love to talk to you about what that means as well.
View all posts by crosseyedjesusfreak